


Forget Me Not

by Rainewritesfanfics



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Amnesia, Angst, F/F, Family, Family Feels, Hospitalization
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:55:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22262941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainewritesfanfics/pseuds/Rainewritesfanfics
Summary: Lila was 3000 miles away when she got the first call.Marinette was in the ICU. She’d fallen. Head trauma. Blood loss.Ten hours and every mode of transportation later Lila’s back in Paris.  However, when she finally gets to see Marinette, will she have the strength to cross those last three feet?
Relationships: Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Lila Rossi, Sabine Chang & Lila Rossi, Sabine Cheng/Tom Dupain
Comments: 2
Kudos: 106





	Forget Me Not

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that I did not research anything to do with amnesia. 
> 
> This was done for fun as part of Lilanette Week on Tumblr. This version is more polished because I actually got time to edit it.

The overhead lights were almost as harsh as the staccato of Lila’s boots against the tile floor. Not for the first time that morning cursed her aching feet and rolling suitcase as she continued to ignore the scolding nurses. 

Room 208. Room 208. Room 208. 

She glanced left and saw a sign for rooms 260-275. God! Why was this place such a damn maze?

She strode off to the right and prayed to every Catholic saint her Nonna had taught her when she was little that she would find this room before she lost the last shred of her sanity.

Two minutes later, it was Sabine’s familiar face that saved her. Lila nearly collapsed in relief when she saw that familiar face. 

Sure enough, the plaque behind Sabine’s head read 208.

Even wearing sweatpants and one of Tom’s old band shirts, Sabine was a pillar of comfort for Lila in the hospital’s alien environment.

The rolling of Lila’s travel-worn suitcase had gotten Sabine’s attention. Her almond eyes widened, and then relaxed, spilling a few tears as she opened her arms to welcome Lila home.

That hug was the only thing that stopped Lila from collapsing right to the floor. 

After ten hours of worry. Ten hours of not knowing. Ten hours of taking every bus and train and cab that could get her back to Paris and here just after dawn.

“Breathe,” Sabine reminded as Lila sobbed. “Breathe, Lila. You’re here, now. You made it. It’s going to be okay. Deep breaths.”

Standing there, breathing as Sabine instructed, Lila could finally recognize the pungent, sterile scent of the hospital over the scent of her unwashed hair and dry shampoo. 

Lila rested her head on Sabine’s, inhaling the warmth of the bakery, mingled with the cinnamon of Sabine’s hair. Home. 

She was here. She had made it. She had made it three thousand miles without any sleep; she just had to make it ten more feet. 

But first...

“Is she,” Lila hiccuped around her tears, “Is she going to be okay?”

Sabine rubbed Lila’s back in delicate circles and bought time to form an answer. “She’s awake, and the tests are done. Now we have to wait for the results, but they think she’ll be alright, given time.”

Lila released a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding onto. She mumbled a, “Thank God,” in Italian, straightened herself and her clothes, and wiped her bloodshot eyes.

Her knuckles were almost white on the door handle. She couldn’t bear to spend any more time apart from her wife. Especially not now. 

She was ready to throw the door open. To shower Marinette with kisses and apologies for having been out of town. To do anything and everything Marinette needed or wanted. She was ready.

Sabine’s firm fingers on her wrist derailed that momentum.

“Lila, wait.” Sabine bit her lip. “There’s something you need to know...”

Oh. Oh, no. That tone. Lila knew that tone of voice. She shuddered involuntarily.

It was a tone that came to bear earth-shattering news. 

She had heard it before when her father hadn’t made it home from work. The policewoman has used that tone. And again, years later, she had heard it when Ladybug had freed her from Hawkmoth’s control. She wished she hadn’t learned what she’d done.

Now, she knew she didn’t want to hear this. She didn’t. Whatever it was, it was bad. Maybe as bad as all the scenarios her overactive brain had concocted during her mad rush home. 

Ten hours is a long time to be alone with your thoughts at the best of times. Suffice it to say, that ten hours is much, much worse when your wife is in the ICU. 

She could feel more sobs gathering in her core, like thunder before a storm. Instead, she forced out a long breath and tamped down the nauseating anxiety swirling in her empty stomach. “What is it?”

“Her memory.”

Lila’s heart stilled. “Her memory?”

Sabine twisted her wedding band, and glanced at the door, where Lila could now make out Tom’s rumbling voice interspersed with Alya’s no-nonsense one. 

“Marinette’s memory is incomplete,” Sabine said as gently as possible.

“She-she doesn’t remember me?” Lila fought the bile rising in her throat. This couldn’t be happening. How could she have let this happen? How could she be so stupid as to go out of town? How-

Sabine pinched her nose. She looked almost as tired as Lila felt. “She does remember you, but...”

Lila’s brows furrowed, but then shot up. “Oh, no.”

The silence was all the confirmation Lila needed. “Is it permanent?”

“We don’t know. The doctors aren’t sure exactly which parts of her brain have been wounded at this time.”

Not thinking anymore, Lila twisted the door handle and pushed in. 

The room was painted a cheery yellow. It matched Marinette, but not everything that had happened.

Marinette was sitting upright on a mound of pillows. Bandages were wrapped around her forehead. Lila could she the places where Marinette’s hair had been shaved to make room for the gauze pads and stitches.

Tom held up a glass with a straw to his daughter’s lips. Marinette’s sips were slow and loud. Normally, it might have been annoying, but Lila nearly broke down in relief just to see her upright. Alive. Awake.

In the chair by the bedside, Alya sat with her legs crossed. She was laughing, but Lila could read the tension and exhaustion in the lines of her face. Lila knew her own appearance must be far worse.

The ambient noise seemed to die the moment Lila reached the foot of the bed. 

Sabine gently closed the door behind them.

Tension was nearly palpable as Lila felt all eyes turn to her and her polka dotted suitcase.

She could feel it. It was in the air. In the silence. 

The moment Lila locked eyes with those deep ones, her fears were confirmed.

Marinette’s brows fell, and her lips twisted in small frown. The bandages wrapped around her head shifted with her expression.

Lila fought the urge to run.

“What are you doing here?” Marinette’s words were laced with trace amounts of accusation.

Lila’s lips parted, but nothing more than a dismayed squeak came out. Her legs collapsed, and she sank to the cold tile floor. After 3000 miles, she just couldn’t make it the last 3 feet between her and Marinette.

Three feet that might as well have been three light years now.

Marinette glanced down at her, curiosity clear on her freckled face. “Lila? What’s going on? Seriously, what are you doing here?”

Staring at the beige square of tile in front of her, Lila felt her vision blur with hot, thick tears that easily spilled onto her wind-burned cheeks.

Tom’s arms enveloped Lila. He squeezed her hard enough to ground her. But not hard enough to hurt.

Sabine joined in, running her fingers through Lila’s bangs and whispering gentle noises.

As the pair of them comforted Lila, Alya unfolded herself from the sinking chair cushion. After cracking her back, she approached Marinette with her phone in hand.

“Marinette, I know you don’t have all the puzzle pieces to your memory right now, but you should know that Lila turned over a new leaf,” Alya explained. “Years ago, actually.”

“She did?”

“You had been right,” Alya said. “She was lying about all those celebrity connections. We all found that out. But then you were the one who gave her another chance. You let her start over, even after Volpina and Chameleon and everything else...”

Marinette’s brows drew down. There was something big missing. She could feel it. Something about Hawkmoth...

Her brain ached as she tried to recall the memory. Instead, she turned her attention to the present as Alya squeezed her shoulder.

Marinette looked down at Lila. Clearly her parents cared for the woman. “Are we really close enough for her to be here?” Marinette whispered, not wanting to be rude.

Alya squeezed Marinette’s hand before stepping away. She looked like she was fighting back tears of her own. “I would say so. She left her business trip early and came straight here when she heard about the accident.”

Marinette’s gaze softened on Lila. She cursed herself for not remembering however many years now separated them. This Lila was clearly so different from attention-seeking girl she recalled.

“Why would you do something like that? Leaving work early and coming home...For me, I mean,” Marinette asked as Lila got hiccuped. 

Lila wiped at her eyes and soon settled herself by Marinette’s feet. “We got close in the years following collège. Common interests and tastes. One thing led to another. If you want to know who I am to you, just look at your lock screen.

Wordlessly Marinette accepted the phone Alya passed to her. The whole time, she refused to take her eyes off of Lila.

As soon as Marinette clicked the screen on, she dropped the phone to her lap and clutched her hands over her mouth.

Lila started at the ceiling, not wanting to watch the disgust and horror she was sure Marinette felt.

Alya did watch the horror sweep across Marinette’s features, but not in the way Lila thought. Horror and regret. Regret at having forgotten something something so important. Someone so important.

There, sitting in her lap, the spider-webbed screen still showed the pink-hued photo of their wedding kiss.


End file.
